JSeahawks wrote:Just curious, is it a 100% certainty that when you get a new team they'll automatically be the Sonics again?

Its hard to put myself in your position as a sports fan but i was thinking if the Blazers left, leaving a really bad taste in my mouth, then the NBA moved another team back in a couple of years that I would want to start over with a brand new franchise rather then just revert back to the Blazers again.

I have to strongly disagree on this one, J. I'm of the mind that if a new team is not renamed the SuperSonics, I would have a much harder time getting back on board with the league. I grew up a Sonics fan. I have very little interest in getting back in the NBA just to pretend none of that past happened. In fact, having a new named team will do nothing but constantly remind us what happened.

The Seattle SuperSonics were our team for 40 years. Just because we got screwed over by Clay Bennett and Stern doesn't change any of that. If we were to get a team back in town, all it is, in my mind, is rightfully returning what was taken from us. And what was taken was our Supes. I want to be Cleveland getting back the Browns, or Winnipeg getting back the Jets. I don't want to be Houston losing the Oilers, and pretending to rather have their team called the Texans.

Not to mention the name SuperSonics is one of the best in pro sports. I've always loved that all of our teams in Seattle have unique team names that have connections to the city. I've traveled in lots of foreign countries. When I've met locals and told them where I'm from in the US, you want to know the two main responses? "Nirvana" and "Seattle SuperSonics".

If Seattle were to get a new NBA team and it's called anything but the Seattle SuperSonics, it's a constant reminder of what Clay Bennett came and took away. Screw that.

As for the particulars. Clay Bennett technically owns the name and history. There was some weird contractual language about who would own what in the future given the league returning to Seattle. But if Seattle were to ever get a team, I see absolutely no reason he wouldn't give it back. OKC has no need or use for it. If I were a Thunder fan, I wouldn't want anything to do with it. It would only remind people of what happened and take away from their current team that is their own. It's the least Bennett, along with Stern, could do.

SeaTown, it was always my understanding that Clay Bennet had no interest in our name or history. I thought that he just wanted the franchise and left everything Sonics back in Seattle. It never occured to me that if we obtained another team it would be called anything other than the Sonics. And I say "Sonics" because several years ago they dropped the "Super", which pissed me off. I liked when the team was being announced and he'd yell SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUperSONICS!!! But yeah, if we get another team, anything other than Sonics is completely unacceptable, and I'm sure every fan in the city will let them know about it if they try to do something differently.

"Marshawn Lynch does not run. He Rumbles. And he shook the ground with a perfect '10' on the Beast-quake Scale"NFL Films on 24 yard TD run in NFCCG vs Packers

sammyc521 wrote:The only thing that OKC will keep is the "shared history" and the '79 trophy. Seattle retains the right to the team name if/when we get a franchise.

Wait... They get to share the f'n '79 trophy?? And the history?? Wha...How... They had absolutely zero connection with the Seattle Supersonics in 1979. I bet 95% of the population of OK had no idea we even won the Championship that year. That's BS! I sure hope you're wrong on that one sammy. That trophy is OURS, and OURS ONLY! God... now I'm all pissed. I've gotta do some research.

Their city has NEVER WON AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP! ARGHHHHH!!!!

I'm writing Steve Kelley with that question. He's a roundball junkie, and pretty good about writing back for a big newspaper columnist.

Speaking of Steve Kelley, here's a new article related to this thread.

soohawk wrote:First and foremost let me get this out of the way, having a basketball team is in no way shape or form ever going to make up for the impact of Hurricane Katrina upon the city of New Orleans, the State of Louisiana and the entire southeastern United States. Don't get me wrong it is a beautiful thing for the people of New Orleans to have sports to entertain them and for them to lose themselves in other activities to reduce the levity of such a catastrophic event. BUT they don't even go to the games anymore and the Saints run that city and always have. That Superbowl win was the sporting equivalent of their return from Katrina and helped generate a lot of pride for the area. Not that a Superbowl will ever fix any of the problems that were created during that storm but its a nice reprieve.

Ok now it is just a farce that they still have a team and get the carte blanche treatment from the NBA and David Stern in regards to their struggling interest and support of their team. Its really a sad joke, nobody wants to invest in the team anymore because it is regarded as a lost cause until somebody comes up with hundreds of millions dollars to purchase them. The local economy has other fish to fry and more important issues to deal with than a faltering basketball team which never found its place in the city upon its return from Charlotte. That is another point of contention for me, George Shinn's stupid ass should have never been able to move the team from North Carolina and Stern definitely did not need to put the Bobcats in Duke/UNC/WOLFPACK country when expansion talks were underway. They are smart basketball fans in N.C and won't buy into a poorly run team even if Micheal Jordan is still riding his NCAA championship goodwill in the state (i know he is also from there...big deal). Guy guts the team every ten days to extract a better profit margin when he is a kajillionaire.

Anyway, the city of Seattle deserves a team because the fans bleed green and gold, N.O not so much. Stern can't take another public relations hit before he retires (lockouts, relocation's, poor decisions blocking the Chris Paul trade etc...) so this is probably going to die on the table if N.O is the target. Like it was previously stated, we should get Sacramento because the Maloofs are poor and won't be bailed out a second time by the NBA. Christoper Hansen (sp?) would spend to put a team out there to compete or this entire process is a moot point. I don't think he would invest in the location for the stadium and pressure the NBA in conjunction with the city officials of Seattle if he just wanted to make money. He could start other business ventures much more easily. This is about him becoming a local hero like Paul Allen by resurrecting the Sonics and making them relevant again in American Sporting Culture. If this guy gets the team, we are going to kick ass and take names. Money will be spent and he will get all the support he needs from the fans in a similar vein.

sammyc521 wrote:The only thing that OKC will keep is the "shared history" and the '79 trophy. Seattle retains the right to the team name if/when we get a franchise.

Wait... They get to share the f'n '79 trophy?? And the history?? Wha...How... They had absolutely zero connection with the Seattle Supersonics in 1979. I bet 95% of the population of OK had no idea we even won the Championship that year. That's BS! I sure hope you're wrong on that one sammy. That trophy is OURS, and OURS ONLY! God... now I'm all pissed. I've gotta do some research.

Their city has NEVER WON AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP! ARGHHHHH!!!!

I'm writing Steve Kelley with that question. He's a roundball junkie, and pretty good about writing back for a big newspaper columnist.

Speaking of Steve Kelley, here's a new article related to this thread.

OKC fans don't want that stuff, they don't care about it. To them they started in 2008. I thought the trophy, jerseys and banners were somewhere in storage in Seattle? just not on display in a museum because of the situation?

sammyc521 wrote:The only thing that OKC will keep is the "shared history" and the '79 trophy. Seattle retains the right to the team name if/when we get a franchise.

I don't believe OKC keeps the '79 trophy, they get to "borrow" it at times sounds like to me. As far as the shared history goes, I am thinking when we have the Sonics back playing here again that OKC will be less inclined to "share" that history with a team that exists, even though they may legally do so.

From 2008:

The agreement calls for Bennett's Professional Basketball Club to leave any banners, trophies and retired jerseys. Those will be placed in a curatorship at Seattle's Museum of History and Industry, although the new Oklahoma City franchise would be allowed to borrow them to put on display periodically and make copies.

I will never watch the NBA again by choice, in fact I have only seen a quarter or so since 2008. Never ever again. Oh and Blazer fans, have a number for you..98-94 with or without a team, we own I-5 suckers!

Man...the more and more I look into this situation, the less and less confident I am that we will get either an NHL or NBA team. I mean just listening to Paul Silvi's Northwest Sports Tonight, he said that he doubts that any team will come to Seattle.

Case-in-point, the NBA/NHL is entirely attracted to the idea that we build a new arena. If that means a new arena in Sacramento, Seattle, or Anaheim neither league cares where as long as it's fancy and new.

I have no problem with any local analyst being a realist when it comes to the likelihood of the NBA/NHL coming to Seattle. Everyone's made it perfectly clear, only if/when an arena is going to be built will either league come.

What really amazing and confusing at the same time is that the league will make more of its money off TV contracts than it will with any revenue created from the arena... but that never stopped the NBA from building its league on a shakey foundation.

Piss off Sac. We were screwed, now it's your turn (hopefully). If you do lose your team to Seattle, wait 4 years, then find a rich guy to bring your Kings back. Deal with it. I'm sure we have no intention of bringing anything Kings back with us. Why would we want to?

If we get the Kings, and they are rebranded the Sonics with history intact, I would look at it as a 4 year break. As far as I would be concerned they would be the Sonics, especially after we retooled the franchise in our own image. I guess expansion would be preferred, especially with all the high draft picks, but after a few seasons most people won't give it a second thought, IMO.

"Marshawn Lynch does not run. He Rumbles. And he shook the ground with a perfect '10' on the Beast-quake Scale"NFL Films on 24 yard TD run in NFCCG vs Packers

The vote that passed really isn't anything just gives them the ok the sell those parking areas. From what I hear its still a long way for sactown to go before anythings ok'd about a new arena for sacramento. They still need the nba to fit an $80 million bill, do you really think they'd do that? When they wouldn't put in $50 million here for a new arena?

NBA already bailed the Maloofs out once, I don't expect that to happen again, not at that price atleast.

From what I've been hearing on Seattle news radio, even if they pass the parking thing, there's still roughly $150 million that hasn't been accounted for. They are still short that amount. I think they're waiting for a knight in shining armor to show up with the cash, but given the state of the economy down there, there will be an uproar if the city even thinks about raiding the coffers to pay for it. I'm still banking on a 50/50 chance, and I'm still optimistic. Sac is rapidly running out of time. Oh, and of maybe bigger concern is that there is no guarantee that the team would go to Seattle if the stars do align. Anaheim is still a strong contender... Which is frickin' ridiculous since that'd put 3 NBA teams in a 50 mile radius, as was mentioned earlier. STUPID! I'm sure most NBA fans in Anaheim are already Lakers or Clippers fans, and the Kings would be doomed to failure there. Like I said earlier, why in the hell would they choose to do that over a hungry fanbase up here in the 12th largest TV market?

"Marshawn Lynch does not run. He Rumbles. And he shook the ground with a perfect '10' on the Beast-quake Scale"NFL Films on 24 yard TD run in NFCCG vs Packers

Yup, King5 news just had breaking news, during the 5pm newscast, that there will be an announcement tomorrow over Arena plans south of Safeco. This still begs the question though.... Why would they be doing this if the Sacramento deal is so iffy? There is something going on behind the scenes that we are not privvy to. I'm looking forward to this coming to light. This is so interesting! And exciting. Hard to not get your hopes up!

As an asides, the Bob Rivers Show today played a clip from a guy down in Sac that was pissed over Seattle's raging attempts to steal the Kings before they have their offer on the table. "Jeez Seattle, at least let us propose to the Kings before you barge in with a bigger rock"... hahahahahaha

Last edited by BlueThunder on Wed Feb 15, 2012 6:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.

"Marshawn Lynch does not run. He Rumbles. And he shook the ground with a perfect '10' on the Beast-quake Scale"NFL Films on 24 yard TD run in NFCCG vs Packers

What kind of deal will need to be struck with the city? In some articles it mentions finding a 'fair deal' and an 'offer to the city'. Will there be something that must be approved by voters? Or what? I'm terrified of that prospect. This is why I wish we lived in a dictatorship....a dictatorship run by people who like sports.

Last edited by pinksheets on Wed Feb 15, 2012 6:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I don't want Sacramento to get railroaded the way Seattle did, i want to see them get every fair chance they can, if it comes down to them being jobbed the way Seattle did then i don't want it and wont watch them. then there is the evil slimy piece of crap who runs the nba who makes me sick every time i see him speak.

I would LOVE to see us get the Sonics back and a NHL team, just do it the right way and don't shaft other city's the way we got screwed.

Msfann wrote:I don't want Sacramento to get railroaded the way Seattle did, i want to see them get every fair chance they can, if it comes down to them being jobbed the way Seattle did then i don't want it and wont watch them. then there is the evil slimy piece of crap who runs the nba who makes me sick every time i see him speak.

I would LOVE to see us get the Sonics back and a NHL team, just do it the right way and don't shaft other city's the way we got screwed.

Sacramentos been dealing with this for 6 years. If that isn't fair, then what is? NBA has basically set up an embassy there to help. They've had their chance. This is the way the game is, we gotta okiedoke another city, they should be mad at the NBA not us.

Msfann wrote:I don't want Sacramento to get railroaded the way Seattle did, i want to see them get every fair chance they can, if it comes down to them being jobbed the way Seattle did then i don't want it and wont watch them. then there is the evil slimy piece of crap who runs the nba who makes me sick every time i see him speak.

I would LOVE to see us get the Sonics back and a NHL team, just do it the right way and don't shaft other city's the way we got screwed.

Sacramentos been dealing with this for 6 years. If that isn't fair, then what is? NBA has basically set up an embassy there to help. They've had their chance. This is the way the game is, we gotta okiedoke another city, they should be mad at the NBA not us.

Yea, they've been giving them mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for years, and have been met with nothing but apathy. Only now, when a move is imminent do they react. They've been more than fair to Sacramento.

World Champion Seattle Seahawks football. It's an addiction, and there is no cure.Les Norton - gone but never forgotten. Rest in blue and green peace, my friend.

When the Sonics left I was out of state on some military training that required a lot of time and attention. That, combined with the fact that I have never really followed the NBA too closely, this is how I found out about the Sonics leaving:

Me (looking at sports page basketball scores): Oklahoma City? They have a team now?

But once the arena is official, no matter the owner of the team, I'm thinking its a given that the NHL lands in Seattle - they'd almost force their way in. Seattle would balance the conference, have a natural rival, not be an outpost, theres an appetite for hockey as there is 5 or so WHL teams that succeed in the northwest.The NHL will jump at the chance to move a sunbelt team North. The players are from northern climates and would be happy in Seattle and fit right in the community with their off-ice class and shaggy beards.

I miss the Sonics and GP is my all-time favorite NBA player but I miss them and was tore up about it more than anything because they were one of our teams, representing Seattle and the NW and they were our oldest pro team. I've never really been a big NBA fan, just followed because of the Sonics. I am much more into College Bball and the tourney, and mainly the tourney. So I'd be much more pumped about an NHL team when it comes down to it.